Saturday, April 18, 2009

राजहंस माझा निजला

हे कोण बोललें बोला? 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

दुर्दैवनगाच्या शिखरी, नवविधवा दुःखी आई
तें हृदय कसें आईचें, मी उगाच सांगत नाही
जें आनंदेही रडते, दु:खांत कसें ते होई


हे कुणी कुणां सांगावे
आईच्या बाळा ठावें
प्रेमाच्या गावा जावें
मग ऐकावें या बोला, 'राजहंस माझा निजला"

मांडीवर मेले मूल, तो हृदया धक्का बसला
होउनी कळस शोकाचा, भ्रम तिच्या मानसीं बसला
मग हृदय बधिरची झाले, अति दुःख तिजवी चित्ताला

ते तिच्या जिवाचें फूल
मांडीवर होत मलूल
तरि शोके पडुनी भूल
वाटतची होतें तिजला, 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

जन चार भोंवतीं जमले, मृत बाळा उचलायाला
तो काळ नाथनिधनाचा, हतभागी मना आठवला
तो प्रसंग पहिला तसला, हा दुसरा आतां असला

ते चित्र दिसे चित्ताला
हे चित्र दिसे डोळ्यांला
निज चित्र चित्तनयनांला,
मग रडुने वदे ती सकलां, 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

करु नका गलबला अगदी, लागली झोंप मम बाळा
आधीच झोंप त्या नाही, खेळाचा एकच चाळा,
जागताच वाऱ्यासरसा, खेळाचा घेइल आळा

वाजवूं नका पाऊल
लागेल तया चाहूल
झोपेचा हलका फूल
मग झोपायाचा कुठला, राजहंस माझा निजला

हें दूध जरासा प्याला, आतासा कोठें निजला
डोळ्याला लागे डोळा, कां तोच भोवतीं जमलां?
जा, नका उठवुं वेल्हाळा, मी ओळखतें हो सकलां

तो हिराच तेव्हा नेला
हिरकणीस आता टपला
परि जिवापलिकडे याला
लपवीन, एकच मजला, राजहंस माझा निजला

कां असलें भलतें सलतें, बोलतां अमंगळ याला
छबकड्यावरुनि माझ्या या, ओवाळुनि टाकीन सकलां
घेतें मी पदराखालीं, पाहूंच नका लडिवाळा,

मी गरीब कितिही असलें
जरी कपाळ माझें फ़ूटलें
बोलणें तरी हें असलें
खपणार नाहिं हो मजला, राजहंस माझा निजला

हें असेच सांगुनि मागें, नेलात जिवाचा राजा
दाखाविलाही फिरुनी नाहीं, नाहीत का तुम्हां लाजा?
न्यावयास आतां आलां, राजहंस राजस माझा!

हा असा कसा दुष्टावा?
कोणत्या जन्हिंचा दावा?
का उगिच गळा कापावा
पाहुनी गरिब कोणाला, राजहंस माझा निजला


कवी - गोविंदाग्रज

Monday, April 13, 2009

Politics and Education

Polls for 2009 are near and the campaigning is in full gear. There has been a lot of discussion about the ideal leader. What should be the qualities of an MP or an MLA or anyone who has been elected as people’s representative? What people expect from a leader? Some of these expectations are that the candidate should have no criminal records, that he should at least be a graduate etc.
I have a problem with the second expectation, the one about the educational qualifications of an MP. There’s an inherent flaw in this requirement. Which degree should the MP have? Political science? Law? Economics? Chemistry? Math? Biology? Arts? Which one? So demanding merely a degree is not enough.
There is another technical difficulty in this. It is a harsh reality. Is our education system clean enough? What is the guarantee that a person claiming to be a graduate has obtained the degree in a legitimate manner? What if he has doctors his certificates? Is there any way to ensure the legitimacy of his degree certificates? Sadly our system is not clean enough.
I personally feel that to be good MP you need not have a degree. If I know how to find stresses in a beam, then does this mean that I can be a good administrator? If I can solve differential equations, does it mean that I can solve people’s difficulties. Our education system is not the ideal one. I have learnt in Pune University, which one of the better universities in India. There was absolutely nothing in our curriculum which would have taught us about the tackling about the real life problems.
To be a good administrator you should reach to the people. You should have the knowledge about the real problems in front of the common man. What are his worries and what are the best ways to get rid of their problems. For this you need to be the one among them. You should have spent time with the people. It’s not clear to me that what advantages an MP with graduate degree has over the one without a degree. There can be many people, especially in rural India who may not be highly educated but they might have better understanding of their constituency. We are likely to miss out on those people. (Personally I think that choosing a government and Prime minister through elected MPs is utterly foolish, but I am considering current system.)